The chin-shih 進士examination was one part of the civil examination system of the Southern T'ang. Although the chin-shih was introduced during the reign of Hsu Chih-kao 徐知誥，it slowly evolved until Li Ching李璟 reorganized it, making the chin-shih more closely resemble its original form and having more far-reasching influences on teh political and social aspects of the Southern T'ang. The adoption of the chinshih composed a part of the propaganda of the Southern T'ang as this would authenticate their succeeding the splendor of the T'ang dynasty. However, the background of and the problems faced by the Southern T'ang undoubtedly differed from those of the T'ang which called for the institutional content of the examination to be partially changed in order to cater to the reality of that time. The chin-shih examination also provided poor literati with a channel to officialdom, thereby increasing the chance of upward social mobility. Furthermore, the chin-shih was used not only to bring forth the literary transformation to the clans of the meritorious military officials, but also to staff the local administrative structure with literary personnel. This policy had achieved some success and the above social and political functions that derived from the examination helped form the basis of civil administration. The competition in the examination hall was extremely fierce in the Southern T'ang, bringing endless misery and frustration to the examination participants. Nevertheless, the ordeal experienced by the literati in the civil examination was instrumental in strengthening their examination abilities, thus serving as an important factor leading to their outstanding performance in the examination hall of the Northern Sung.